Beyblade X'mas Special
by Lightning-neko
Summary: It's christmas and Mao ( Mariah ) and the White Tigers are back in their village in China. Christmas is a time for family... or friends? Simple one shot fic centred around Mao. No Yaoi in here.


**Beyblade X'mas Special**

The White Tigers had taken a break from their usual beyblading romps and now they had settled back temporarily in their home village.  
Mao was warmly welcomed by her mother, whom the villagers called Nimble Fingers. The house cat purred pleasantly too. 

"Mao dear, could you do the chores today?"  
"But I just came back, MaMa."  
"But as a girl, you've got to do them," Mama insisted. At her hands was a piece of clothing, its hole being quickly stitched up by a quick needle.

"Hai, Mama."  
Her mother put down her sewing for a while.  
"All that travelling has turned you into one of them Japanese speaking things. You..."  
Mao smiled as she picked up the basket of laundry (which was thankfully near empty) and a scrubbing board and brush.  
"Yes, Mama," And she was out of the door into the snow filled country.  
By her side was the faithful house cat, part angora and part who-knows-what, its white fur blending in with the snow all except its green eyes and black stripe on its head, which earned it its name -- Tiger.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

_"Where are you going? We just returned."  
"He probably expects me home anyway. And it's Christmas too."_

_~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~_

"I should've done other chores first, huh? Tiger?"  
The snow was getting on Mao's nerves and she wished she could borrow a bicycle from Rei's father to cycle to the hot spring... except the snow made it impossible to do so.

Tiger, meanwhile, was not listening. She had started miaowing at a particular pine tree and was staring up at its branches.  
_If I didn't know better, she's probably gonna jump up and catch a bird._

But Mao knew. She knew Tiger had seen something special and stopped in her tracks to look up into the emerald branches of the tree.  
She saw it almost at once. Tiger twitched her long haired tail happily, the way a Rex bred cat would do. A robin was nestled in the ninth branch from the bottom. Mao knew at once it was a robin cause it had a bright red breast and she had seen one when she was little.   
Its red chest seemed to be more on the orange side of a red, so it looked like it had a portable fire with it wherever it went. Indeed, it was that type of red among the bleak surroundings you'd think it was a tiny flame.

"Robins_ are_ rare Tiger, but I must do my chores," Mao said softly to the feline, but she was already ahead of her human. Mao hurried to catch up.

When at last the duo reached the hot spring, Mao was very grateful of the rising steam and Tiger had needed no cue to take to the water, the way a tiger would do in the wild.   
Scrubbing diligently, Mao started humming the song she had heard from clothes washing maidens a long time ago. A tiny tortoise poked its head out of the surface and Tiger paddled over to sniff it. A wild dog padded by and Mao got ready to reach for Galux though it was unnecessary as the dog walked on without a hint of threat.

At last the washing was done and Mao dumped the load back into the basket. Tiger poked a tentative paw onto solid ground before hauling her wet body onto the snow and started shivering. Sighing in exasperation, Mao reached under her coat to undo the scarf she always wore around her waist. 

"Don't expect me to warn you again," she scolded, tying the scarf onto Tiger with her ribbon and the pair hurried back home.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

_"OKAA-SAN!"  
"Hello, my dear Max."  
"Daddy will be so glad to see you."  
"I'm sure."_

_~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~_

"Please? Mao-sama?"  
"Why don't you go to Rai's?" Mao said to KiKi (who was begging on knees at the kitchen window) while cutting up a few fresh and salted greens. MaMa was looking on with interest. 

"You know Rai, he'll start spouting the 'honour and honesty works for me' ritual again and 5 minutes into his speech... BOOM! Gao's here!"

"Why don't you tell him the truth? That it was Zhen Gong* who threw a snowball at him..."  
"butheknowsIdidit."  
"Eh?"

"Gao!" Kiki screamed in shock. The bear like figure of his team mate stood behind him.  
"Ahahahahaha... got to go now! Zai Jian*!" 

"What did Kiki scream for, Mao?"  
"He thought you were going to attack him."  
"Oh. I was just going to return him something he dropped," Gao brandished a book. (1001 Ways of Playing Tricks)  
"He'll be over at Rai's," Mama said nonchalantly, hiding all amusement.  
"Thanks." 

Mao sighed in defeat. It had been such a long time she last cut vegetables, she forgot how to do it. There was only one way about it.  
Sneaking a glance at her mother's turned back, she scooped the vegetables onto a wooden board and sneaked them out of the house.

Once outside, she cleaned Galux in a batch of clean snow and aimed. The veggies were cut in no time and MaMa never knew the difference.

Just then, Tiger dashed past Mao (as she set the cut products on the table) and nearly toppled the stove (it's made of stone).  
"Tiger!"  
Tiger paid no heed and purred at the thing it had been chasing behind the stove.   
Shifting her position to satisfy her curiosity, a streak of blue dashed up the wall from behind the heat source and paused a while at the Chinese styled calendar that hung on the wall. Mao managed to register that it was a normal house lizard, except someone had painted its tail blue, before it disappeared up the roof.   
Then her eyes fell on the calendar.

"MaMa! Today's the 24th of December! It's Christmas eve!"  
"Christmas?" MaMa's eyes looked doubtful. "I think I've heard of it before. Something the White Skins celebrate, right?"  
"MN!" Mao nodded happily.  
"They give presents to each other and it would be fun if..." Mao's voice trailed away hopefully.  
"If all the villagers could celebrate it?"  
"Ah." Mao looked around at the floor, but Tiger had went out again, so she had no one to share her real feelings with.  
"I'll be extra helpful today, okaa-san."  
"Japanese again?"  
Mao grinned. 

"Let me do the rice."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

_"SO WHAT IF IT'S CHRISTMAS? You still have to do kendo!"  
"Let him go today, 'Jii-san."  
"Nii-san! Tou-san! You're back!"_

_"You should go back. WE are home but you aren't."  
Go back..._

_~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~_

Tiger still hadn't come back that evening and Mama and Mao were getting worried. 

"She knows her way back," Mama murmured, though Mao wasn't sure she was talking to herself or addressing both.   
They ate their rice in silence and a snowflake fell from the sky. 

That night, no one in the Nimble Finger household slept peacefully and a storm slowly worked up.  
  
  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

_The storm was getting worse. Something brushed against his leg.  
Chancing a glance down. He was surprised, then gratified as the creature curled around his near-frozen legs, urging him on._

_~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~_  
  
  
Mao was waken up rather rudely the next morning by the noise one usually heard from a crowd.   
Going out to see the commotion, she was startled to see a flash of pinkish white through the bodies of people. Rai's voice could be heard distinctly and KiKi was laughing. Even Rei's father (who was usually the quiet type) was heard chuckling.

Then the crowd parted and a boy clad in Rei's father's work coat stumbled through. Mao couldn't see exactly who was underneath but when Rai followed behind, she knew instantly.

"Rei!"  
The boy turned and for an instant, Mao had a feeling it wasn't him. What would he be doing here? 

Then she caught a glimpse of a pink ribbon, an end of a pink scarf.  
The boy threw back his hood and it _was_ Rei. 

"Tiger's here," he said hoarsely, handing over a shivering bundle of pink tied up in a ribbon. A white head with a black stripe peeked out from underneath.   
"Oh... Rei," Mao's eyes brimmed with tears. She didn't bother about being barefoot on the ice. All that was important now was what she saw in front of her.

"Thank you for bringing her back," she whispered, cuddling Tiger close to her chest.  
"Actually, Tiger brought me back. I was lost in the storm." Rei smiled. His face was red but it could have been the cold.

Mao let Tiger down at last.  
"Honto ni arigato," she whispered. For once, MaMa did not stop her.

"How...?"  
"Oh, Merry Christmas," Rei chuckled.   
"Max, Takao, Kai and Kyouju wanted me to come back. `It's Christmas, go visit your relatives!` Your MaMa called too. Said something about you being lonely..." Rei turned (if possible) redder at his words and the villagers laughed.   
  
  
"What if I invited you over for breakfast today?" Rai butted in.  
Rei glanced at his father who nodded.   
"Okay."  
"Mao can come along too!" Rai laughed.  
"What's that supposed to mean?" Mao asked in mock anger, but accepted the offer and ran to Rai's house, hand in hand with Rei. 

  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

  
"Mao probably didn't hear this news," Mama chortled, talking to Tiger. From a chest she produced a scroll presented to her from the elders.   
It read "Village Match Maker for the Year".

Tiger wasn't listening however. She was prowling at the kitchen window, a pine tree and hot spring visible from the glass.  
And somewhere in the house, the blue streaked lizard scurried about.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Owari~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
  
  
  


Firstly, I'll explain the meanings of the words marked with the asterisks.

Zhen Gong* -- It's meant to be a name. Also a horrible pun. Zhen Gong means work according to the law... you know, legal stuff... not breaking rules. So in other words, KKi was accusing someone who probably would never throw a snowball unless invited to. -_-

Zai Jian* -- Simple. See you again or good bye. Bit like "Ja ne" in Jap.  
  
Kai -- Yes, this wasn't marked, but I checked it up in my Chinese dictionary anyway. Kai(3) means the "sounds of triumph". Very meaningful....

You'll also notice I mentioned a few animals in the story. It's pretty obvious what they all stand for.   
I honestly don't know why I put Dranzer first though.   
The wild dog was just simply... a wild dog. -_-

Driger disappeared --- Shows Rei's leaving of White Tigers. Also, if you go deep enough, it shows Rei leaving the warmth of the 4 chosen to go visiting. The other 3 chosen were mentioned earlier in the day.  
Driger returning --- Shows Rei's devotion to clan and village.   
Tiger/ Driger at the window --- Shows Rei will always be devoted to his new team.   
  
  
I don't think I'll bore you with my literature anymore. Just leave a review on what you think. AND I KNOW IT'S NOT SAPPY ENOUGH  
  



End file.
